"Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf" by Ben Hogan - Page 21

Yup. I bought Harvey Penick's book instead. Read reviews that it's a great book to have too. Is that correct?

Depends on which book.  In Harvey's Little Red Book he tells short stories made up of his personal experiences working with people and pro's that visited the golf courses he worked at.  You'll have to read through the stories to find the gems that might help you with practice on the range. 

 

Hogans book is more like a cook book where he takes you through all the components of the golf swing and details what you should do - thus Five Lessons.  I enjoyed reading both, but IMO Hogans book would be easier to use at the range. 

 

 

@newtogolf yeah I agree. Hogan's have illustrations too which greatly helps in the visualizations of his lessons. Harvey's though doesn't but I find his tips very useful and his stories are very motivating for a beginner.

Harvey Pennick Little Red Book is a great instructional tool. I think  a little better than Hogan's.

Pennick talks a little less technical, more common sense. Besides, if all you want to do is "hit a fade/ slice,then Hogan can show you how. Hogan fought a terrible hook and left the tour several times before he learned to control it. I also think a lot of instruction is tough for the average golfer to master. Everyone has a natural shape to their shots,and learning to "hook" the ball to fight a slice just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. No one can hit a dead straight ball. Well not all the time every time.

 

I am also wary of learning what "position" to get to while I am swinging the club. The swing is just that.........a continual swing. The best image in Hogan's book was the "plane of glass". That helped me the most.

 

Just my thoughts.

This is one of the few golf books I have taken the time to read.  I actually keep a copy of this in my golf bag to refer to while working on my swing.

Found this forum while googling "Five Lessons videos" and came to post.  I have owned the book for years.

 

I'm not a great golfer by any means.  I can understand what people mean when they talk about the book being for one swing, avoiding a hook, etc.... 

 

However, a lot of the high handicap players I've played with as friends or coworkers could gain a LOT from the book simply by focusing on their grip and posture.

 

Wasn't 13 pages of the book devoted to the grip alone?

 

I use the book some.  I've actually been the opposite ever since I've learned to play, I struggle with an occassional hook or a slight push to the right.  I have never really had a slice.

 

 

 

 

So, how good is Ben Hogan's book

Is it what will take me to the tour?

 

[Queue the cheap shots at my av]

 

Ordered the book from Amazon, arrived today.

I've only read a little bit. I liked what it had to say. Some like it. Others think it's bad for most golfers because Hogan fought a hook and most fight a slice. 

Just received in the mail today.  Read a few pages and some excerpts from the grip chapter. Also scanned a page in the stance chapter and took out my 6 iron, gripped it "properly" and assumed a stance as close to what I saw in the book, and it felt really natural and comfortable. Seems brilliantly simple so far. Looking forward to seeing how applying this book to my game works for my scoring.  I of course expect some hiccups while getting used to new and different feelings in my swing, so I'll be patient.  I've heard and read about so many people whose game actually takes off immediately after reading this, so maybe I'll get lucky too!

I learned to play golf with this book many years ago. I have since lost track of it but just ordered a new copy.

This book provides a solid foundation to base your swing on. Once the foundation is laid, you can tweek it to suit your own style.
 

The membership coordinator and my club gave me his copy to read yesterday. Read it all last night, learned a couple of things I'm consistently doing wrong which made my grip and stance feel a bit unnatural so I'm going to go work on it today at the range. 

IMO Hogan shows us the secret at time 0:26 in the following video

 

It's believed there wasn't one "secret" and many including Jim McLean claim to have uncovered it.  I have read at least 3 books on Hogan's secret and like most people did during his time they are all speculating on what the secret(s) was/were. 

 

What they all did seem to agree on is that Five Lessons wasn't exactly in line with how Hogan swung a club during his tournament play.  No one is sure if that was intentional as Hogan was very protective of his "secrets" or if it was the case of "feel isn't real". 

Not seeing any secret. I am not sure where this "secret" stuff started but I would have to say it is probably a big waste of time looking for it.

It started with Hogan telling people he found a secret while practicing hour after hour and then getting a big pay day to share it in a magazine.  Since then it's been like Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster. 

Hogans secret was hitting balls for 8 hours a day.

 

Swinging a club back & forth as he walked down the fairway?